| Cottonwood
City Council meets
A draft resolution dealing with Ironwood Estates, LLC, dominated the discussion time at the November meeting of the Cottonwood City Council Tuesday, Nov. 12. Councilors Ron Grant and Pat Holthaus as the sewer and water commissioners have been working on a proposal with city attorney Joe Wright to take to Ironwood and felt they needed some council input on a couple of points. In other business the council voted to raise the out-of-town water rates to 1.75 times the in-town rate. It had been 1.5 times. Grant felt 2 times was reasonable and justifiable and made a motion that died for lack of a second. Jack Duman proposed the compromise of 1.75 times with Holthaus seconding the motion. It passed 3-1 with Grant voting against. Doreen Ash of Doreen’s Saloon appeared before the council with concern about getting her city liquor licenses approved in time when she has to have the state and county ones first and all expire on Jan. 31. Wright pointed out that what usually happens is the city approves them contingent on getting approval of the state and county. That way you can apply for the city license even if you are not yet approved at the state and county levels. The cable operator lease is up in December. There was an addendum on the prior agreement that the council felt could be discarded as it does not apply. A new agreement without that addendum will be presented at the December meeting for approval. The janitorial service agreement for the community hall also expires. Mayor Duman asked the city clerk to prepare a new agreement for the December meeting. City employee wages were discussed. This was previously tabled due to the health care issue. There is some money in the budget that could be used. Mayor Duman asked the council members to bring proposals to the December meeting. In reports Holthaus reported about 2 million gallons of water was pumped with 1.8 million sold and after pre-lube and other non-metered use was accounted for there was a loss of about 276,000 gallons or 13.8%. This is high than it had been but it usually is in the colder months when there is not as much water being used. Grant reported there was a chlorination problem in the sewer system with a gauge blowing off a pipe inside a building that damaged some of the electronics. The problem was discovered when the telemetry readings at the hall were very unusual. 5 of the 7 streets are done as far as the stormwater system upgrades. The remaining 2 streets will wait until spring. Jack Duman reported they did not get the sidewalk grant. Although it scored well enough to be approved, it was too big a project for funding available. Duman said he is working on scaling it back for resubmittal. He is also looking for $100,000 to resurface East St. similar to the way Foster St. and the Terrace Addition streets were done. He figures about $63,000 would do East Street with the balance put toward some of the other streets that are in bad shape. Shelli Schumacher presented a couple of floor plans to renovate the lower level of the Hall. The main features would be cutting down the size of the council chambers while adding a kitchen and restrooms on the lower level. The two different options deal mainly with the placement of the kitchen and restrooms. This will be discussed further at the December meeting. The hazardous dead tree along King Street near the church was discussed. Apparently there is now a trustee for the property that can be contacted. The meeting adjourned at 9:07 p.m. The next regular meeting will be Monday December 9 at 7 p.m. |
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